2.12.2015

When the going gets tough, the tough bake cupcakes. Lots of them. With uber-rich, bakery-style frosting that gets a teeny bit hard on the outside but remains sugary and smooth on the inside. Yeah, that's what we do when life throws us a curveball in the Chubby Vegan household.

I've been a bit of a funk lately. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's because I'm going to be the dirty 30 in a mere two months (and still don't feel like an adult!), I don't know.

What I do know, is this: I am a firm believer that there are few things in this life cupcakes won't make better. So I set out this time to create something really, really simple, but really, really sweet and really, really perfect.

The result is reminiscent of that white-on-white bakery birthday cake you used to get from the grocery store. You know, the one that's all dense and heavy with the super rich, almost overwhelmingly sweet frosting? Yeah, we busted out a dozen of those in our Chubby Vegan kitchen and lets just say I had to make MORE icing because the first batch didn't quite make it all on the cupcakes (OK, some of it ended up in my stomach. It was good, what can I say.)

Here's the secret: don't skip the vegetable shortening. I get it, you want to try and be healthy, but for reals peeps, it's a cupcake, make it right or don't make it at all. (Adorable cupcake trophy stand courtesy of my equally adorable and awesome boss!)

Cake directions:Preheat oven to 350 F. Place cupcake wrappers in a pan muffin tin. Cream together vegan butter and shortening until light and fluffy (with a hand or stand mixer). Stir in sugar and applesauce. Slowly mix in flour, baking powder and salt. Once combined, add coconut milk, vegan sour cream and vanilla extract. Fill cupcake wrappers a little over half full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or edges become a very light, golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Frosting directions:

Mix shortening, vegan butter, vanilla, almond extract,and half of the powdered sugar with a mixer for *at least* five minutes (possibly up to 10 minutes depending on the power/speed of your mixer). Add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat just enough to mix in. Frost cupcakes as desired, store in fridge when not in use.

This past week our family came down with a respiratory
virus, well, mainly Braeburn, but the rest of us got enough of it to feel extra
whiny and needy as well.At two years
old, my little boy has been sleeping through the night like a champion.
Actually, since about four or five months old he’s been sleeping a good 10-12
hours every night.

But between my own chest congestion, his and having to get
up with him, our family has not received an adequate amount of Zzz’s this week.
I’m telling you folks, once your baby starts sleeping through the night, those
long nights you stayed up breastfeeding or rocking slowly fade away, and you
convince yourself that it really wasn’t that bad, right.

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. Not getting sleep is TERRIBLE.
It is that bad. It’s worse!

Needless to say, some of our daily chores may or may not
have gotten pushed aside at the mere possibility of a nap, whether it be five seconds or five hours.

And so a couple mornings ago, I woke up, took one look at my
living room and realized, “Wow, maybe being a mother with small children isn’t
all that different from college me.”

Remember those crazy parties in college? The one’s you
stayed up far too late at, passed out on a couch with 11 of your bffs and then
woke up the next day surrounded by mountains of beer cans and almost-empty
liquor bottles? An uneven, stale-smelling, coating of Natural Light waxed your
table, while store-brand red plastic cups remained overturned and ping pong
balls from your beer pong tournament have mysteriously vanished forever?

Yeah, my house isn’t really much different than that
scenario right now. Only, instead of crappy beer cans, I’ve got juice boxes and
flavored water bottles littering my living room. I mean, seriously, at one
point, I counted four empty juice boxes, three half-full ones, two empty water
bottles and two full ones, plus a coffee cup for good measure all dotting our
living room floor, tables and couches.

And it may or may not have taken me a good five minutes to scrub the thin layer
of fruit punch off our coffee room table. Our living room may not be missing
ping pong balls this time, but there are several toys that were eaten by the
couch and may never, ever be heard again. (I’m not that sad about those toys)

Remember my whole whiny rant up there about the no sleep
treatment we’ve been getting? Well, friends, the last time I skipped this many
nights of snooze was definitely in my college days. My roommate and I used to
stay up until two, three in the morning playing cards, coming up with
inappropriate names for new taco bell items based on slang for women’s
genitalia or just rehashing something stupid so-and-so did. And when that 8:30
class rolled around, our butts got up and went to it, for fear our advisor,
Sister Eileen (yeah, our college advisor was a nun), would call us inquiring
about our absence. Of course we later skipped our afternoon communications or
journalism class to – of course not nap – but instead, reward ourselves with a
smoothie for actually attending history of the English language.

And have I mentioned the clothes? Clothing everywhere. You
would think our dryer threw up and we all lost the ability to fold and put away
laundry in the Chubby Vegan household. I’d like to blame this on our
respiratory issues; however, this is a pretty regular occurrence in our home. I
like clothes. My daughter likes clothes. Therefore, we have far too many
between the two of us. My husband owns probably triple the amount of t-shirts I
own and our son has quite a collection of pants himself. The culmination of
these events has led to mounds of clothing – dirty mingling with clean – winter
interaction with fall fashion – and it’s gotten to the point where I find
searching for my clothing in actual dresser drawers to be arduous and
unnecessary.

I can’t help but think back to college when my roommate and
I were less than zealous about putting away our outfits, and instead threw them
on the large chair and ottoman we had in our room for overnight guests. It’s
probably a good thing we didn’t have many overnight guests, or they might have
been swallowed whole by our laundry pile – that or we would have had to put our
skanky club shirts and skirts away – ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha.

And let’s talk about the cheap pizza and greasy Chinese
takeout for a minute. Was there anything better in college than a pile of fried
rice or lo-mein on a plate when you were sleep-starved and hung over? Absolutely
not, well, except maybe for birthday cake ice cream. That stuff was pretty rad.
The same taste holds true today when you’re sleep-deprived and feel hungover
simply because you were up with a two year old screaming in your ear all night.
You most certainly have no desire to heat food up yourself, which makes the
crappy pizza crust and grease-coated noodles taste all the more refined. I’m
serious folks, treat yourself to some take out on the giddy up. It’ll take you
right back to your college days.

Ultimately, however, there’s one changed, but still
interlinking connection between my mom life and my college days – and that’s
the overwhelming sense of family. Whether it’s the one you birthed or the one
you built for yourself while bonding over being away from home and starting a
new adventure, few things feel stronger than the friendships you form during
these pivotal years – the ones where you dream about having a family with your
college best friends – and the ones where you actually start your family. You
rarely feel alone, which might be the most important thing of all.